No matter how clear the principles of healthy eating may be, putting them into practice can be downright confusing. How does "30 percent of calories from fat" or "2 Carbohydrate Servings" translate to what's on your plate? And where does your eating plan come in when your only choice for a meal is a convenience store? In this section, we'll address many of the issues that may come up in everyday eating.
Start with Your Team
Many resources can point you toward good eating, including guidelines from the American Diabetes Association and the International Diabetes Center. But for the most practical advice that applies to your own health situation and lifestyle, start with a diabetes specialist. This person is likely to be a Registered Dietitian (RD) and/or a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)—both are experts in translating the abstract principles of nutrition into real-life eating.
Divide and Conquer
Getting started on eating better would be much easier if there were a simple, "big picture" image of what a sensible eating pattern looks like. The current debate about the relevance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid, as well as the many competing pyramids produced by others, is a case in point. But one method is winning converts and praise across the board—perhaps because of its utter simplicity. Call it the "Divide Your Plate" strategy.
• Imagine a plate and divide it in half. Fill one half with vegetables, and divide the other half into two quarters.
• Fill one quarter with a lean protein, such as fish, skinless poultry, beans or tofu.
• Fill the other quarter with a grain-based or starchy side dish, preferably whole grains, like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta or a slice of whole-grain bread.
What this method lacks in precision it more than makes up for in good sense. If you focus on making most of your meals look this way, you'll automatically be following sound nutrition guidelines and choosing appropriate portions—without having to pull out a nutrition guide or a measuring cup every time.
A Primer on Portion Size
A key first step in building sound eating habits is to understand what reasonable portions of foods look like. For most of us, that requires a bit of re-education—and downscaling.
Many nutrition authorities believe our ability to estimate correct portions is deteriorating—largely because we are becoming used to the ever-bigger food helpings served up to us in restaurants and other venues. From soft drinks to muffins, the foods we buy in the marketplace are almost always larger than standard portion sizes—sometimes two to eight times bigger. Consider "standard"-size bagels: not long ago, they averaged 2 to 3 ounces; today, they can weigh in at up to 7 ounces. That's equivalent to seven slices of bread, and that's just at breakfast! Restaurant-size helpings of pasta, too, can be big enough to feed a family of six. Imagine what your blood-glucose levels would look like if you considered either of these carbohydrate bonanzas as a "single serving."
The insidious effect of these overblown portions is that larger helpings almost always encourage us to eat more. Several studies have shown that when adults and children are repeatedly served bigger-than-normal portions of food, they tend to eat more—regardless of how hungry they were when they sat down. This is standard procedure in restaurants, where we almost always feel compelled to clean our plates, but it also happens at home, when we serve ourselves the supersized portions we've come to perceive as "normal." No wonder our nation's obesity rate has risen in parallel with rising average portion sizes.
